Alex posted earlier about Kobe Bryant speaking fluent Italian - very cool, indeed. His post linked to a video of Kobe jumping over a pool of snakes. I ran across the snake jump video itself on YouTube just now and felt like it deserved its own post. It's Kobe and a bunch of the guys from Jackass playing in and around a swimming pool filled with water and a lot of snakes. I happen to hate snakes, so stunts like these knot me up inside. Kobe does an awesome flying jump to make a basket over the pool without even getting close to the serpents contained within. This is exactly the sort of silly stuff that keep those Jackass folks near and dear to our hearts.

Update, 5/30/08: Real or fake? The debate rages on in comments below. Neatorama homeslice Rhett breaks out the old slide-rule on his site DotPhys and tries to answer the question. Check it out.

Yes, I know this looks very fake. But I am pretty sure it is one of the three possibilities:1) not fake at all2) cheated, using a trampoline to jump (but it didn't look like he did)3) fake, but an AWESOME fake

I did an analysis of this jump - horizontal and vertical acceleration are what you would expect for a real jumphttp://dotphys.net/files/kobe.html

Mr. Stanhope has posted and praises a clip that depicts animal cruelty (which there are laws against in this country), advocates the needless destruction of a spices, defines himself a sadist (“Is amused by, or takes pleasure in, the psychological or physical suffering of others (including animals)”), defends this behavior and mindset and then advocates demonstrating this behavior to his children… I am glad this is not a typical neatorama posting. I do not find his alleged humor regarding this funny and would hope that Mr. Stanhope himself would take the time to post a serious response or explanation.

The jump looks cool.. but sorry, Jackass is one of the stupidest shows to ever be on television, and I can't get behind any stunt that involves cruelty to animals. You might not like snakes, but that doesn't mean they deserve genocide. If that's what brings you happiness, you probably need a better hobby.